Alleys of Venice

Chapitre Four

Gelato

Thus begins the fourth chapitre of Alleys! – Does mini victory dance – So, this is… so far a very successful story! Well, at least I think so. I'm not as great as all those other authors/authoresses, but at least my story got some reviews. – Is in a very happy mood today – So before the notes and stuff kick in, I wanna thank Musa Rox and bloodytwistedangel; two reviewers who typed up the best reviews I've ever seen in my life. :X

Note: Again, this is in school, but somewhat… from lunch to the afternoon. Yes, I know that in Italy, kids go home to eat their lunches, but in this case, let them stay in school! I also realized that using Japanese honorifics in an Italian school was rather awkward but… Italy doesn't have that kinda stuff; I think. So forgive me if it sounds odd if someone says "Yasha-ou" or "Fai-kun" or anything like that. ;;

Another Note: Is it just me or do Naruto stories update so fscking fast that no one even gets to review for your story? – Sigh – I'm so depressed because I don't have any reviews; only 26 hits which is rather sad. ;;

Disclaimer: Tsubasa belongs to CLAMP. I wanna read Ashura's part in the manga, but the MSN group doesn't have it up yet. – Sigh – Oh well.

Summary: Venezia, Italy was filled with homeless kids back in the time, kids who couldn't afford food unless they would pick pocket. Thieves like those were shunned away from his life, and weren't in for it if seen during the day. So when Fai D. Flowright meets a teenager the same age as him who helps those little pests, will he hate that person too?

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The last time he saw the red eyed boy was during physical education and, soon he found out what the boy's name was. Kurogane. Fai gave a proud smile as if he accomplished something important and big. But to the blond finding out a person's name meant a lot, since he only knew a few people in the school.

The more hellos I can say in a day, he thought to himself happily, taking out a water bottle as he sat down on one of the seats of the lunchroom. But I still don't know if that's him. Maybe a brother?

Fai let out a sigh and began twiddling his thumbs, concentrating once more. If he couldn't find out whom that thief was, his head would explode from thinking too much.

"Fai-Fai!"

His blue eyes snapped open and glanced to the left; he smiled when he saw Ashura cheerfully waving at him, running up to the table he was at. "Fai-Fai, you look all alone," he stated, sitting down next to him with a small frown. "You don't mind if Yasha and I sit-?"

"Yasha-ou!"

The two of them scanned the room to check where the shout was from, and soon they spotted at least thirty girls swarming around a certain person. His head could be seen above the crowd, and his flowing hair was easy to pick up too.

"Not as flowing as mine," Ashura once stated with a flip of his hair, grinning to himself.

As the two realized that Yasha was having trouble trying to get through the sea of fanatics, Ashura stood up and began waving his hand in the air, trying to catch his attention. "Yasha-kun!"

Then the two felt glares – most of the angry stares from the fan girls – like they did almost everyday, but Yasha was grateful for it. At least he didn't have to live up to the constant squealing. Ashura pushed himself off of the seat and began skipping towards the 'Prince', pushing and shoving as each girl tried to block him off from him. After a few tries, he managed to attach himself to Yasha's extended arm, smiling.

"Back off, girls; Yasha-ou needs to go eat and live, y'know."

The girls grumbled and muttered under their breath, casting glares at the grinning couple behind them.

"Hmph."

"That Ashura guy really gets on my nerves sometimes."

The two walked back to where Fai was busy attacking a sandwich that he made for himself. According to Fai, the sandwich was 'running away from him' when he took out his plastic knife to cut it in half. That was when Ashura knew he had to cut Fai off from the Snapple. "Fai," Yasha started, sitting across from Ashura. "Are you sure you're not imagining things?"

Fai shook his head and gave a lopsided grin. "Nah, I'm perfectly fine!"

I beg to differ, Ashura thought to himself. A few days ago he was chasing this stray dog that was running through the alleys and he claims that it was an 'it'.

"Really?" Ashura asked as he raised his voice up in suspicion. "So you don't mind if I tell Yasha-kun here what happened when you were blindly chasing around some little pickpocket the other night?"

Yasha blinked confusedly, staring at the squirming blond. "You were chasing one of those kids again? C'mon Fai, let's get this straight. These kids need to steal to survive, and if you stop them they'll die."

The blond scrunched his nose in distaste. "Well but-."

"Run, Fermata!" a boy laughed as the doors swung open with a crash.

All heads turned to glance at the swarm of people suddenly rushing into the room, indistinctive shouts not too far away. Fai's eyes widened when he spotted the boy with red eyes. He was enraged and had a vicious look of murder in his eyes. The poor boy that was trying to flee from him was sweating, trying to dodge all blows at all costs.

"That's it, Fermata! You're going down!" the boy, Kurogane, barked lunging forward and tackling the boy down onto the carpeted lunchroom floor, and instantly they began kicking and punching at each other.

"Basta, basta!" a lunch lady shouted, waving her hands and shouting at the two kids rolling across the floor, hands tangled in each other's hair. "Basta, ragazzi! Siedete!"

In the midst of their fight, Kurogane had managed to punch him in the jaw, causing him to fall out in a daze momentarily. Hastily he got up, wiping some droplets of blood off his cheeks and sent the woman a death glare. However she stared back, banging the spoon she used to stir the sauce for the penne pasta.

All eyes were on them now, no eyes glaring at Ashura and Fai, muttering words under their breath about how violent some kids were nowadays. Kurogane just had to peek over his shoulder to shut them up, and smirked when he realized that he succeeded almost instantly.

"What is going on in here?" another lady yelled as she entered the room, examining the bloody kid and the one standing above him. "Kurogane! You're fighting kids again?" Everyone winced at the word 'again', noting that they shouldn't get the Kurogane kid angry anymore. She walked to him and smacked him upside the head, making him falter to one side a few steps. Kurogane growled deep in his throat, his bloody red eyes full of annoyance.

"I'm serious," the woman threatened, leaning so her mouth was right beside his ear, "if I catch you fighting with yet another student, you'll be expelled from his school like you were with the other one."

"Wait, I bet he has a reason for hunting the kid down."

I bet he's the type who gets into fights a lot. If he gets caught, he'll leave. Not so fast though.

Fai stood up from the seat he was sitting on and smoothed his dark pants down a bit. He glanced over his shoulder before turning, staring at the woman with such kind, happy eyes. "I bet this boy agitated him to no end for him to act like that. If I were him, I would do the same." The woman gave him a look, scrutinizing him with such sharp eyes; but Fai didn't squirm and kept his gaze, chin up and smile crooked.

Kurogane glanced at the teacher and then at Fai. Then he glanced at Ashura who was sitting in the background cheering Fai on, and Yasha who was trying to calm his lover down. He stared at Fai's aqua eyes and sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Whatever," he muttered before completely ignoring the woman who was still enraged. Walking up to Fai, he reached out to grab his arm and succeeded in pulling him away from the stares they were receiving from everyone. The blond, being the kind that wasn't really aggressive, let the raven do whatever he wanted.

As they reached the other exit of the lunchroom, Kurogane pushed him out the door with a simple shove, not glancing back to see if any students were following. Yet, of course, everyone was crowding at the door where the two left, trying to see what was happening.

And then without a second thought, Kurogane roughly shoved Fai against the white wall, pressing his body against his with one of the scariest and murderous looks he could muster. But to his surprise and disappointment, the blond was still smiling at him with that idiotic grin of his. Trapping him between his arms, Kurogane leaned forward so his face was right before his. Fai just cocked his head at him, smirk permanent and lingering.

"You know," he drawled, cobalt eyes sparkling in what seemed like mischief, "people will kinda get the wrong idea when we're in this position."

There were giggles from the door and Kurogane snapped, pushing himself away from the blond with a hard look on his face. "That's not the problem!" the raven pointed out, poking the lithe teen before him in the ribs. "My problem is that-."

Just as he wanted to discuss about the previous night, the bell rang, signaling that the lunch period was over. He cursed under his breath, glaring at the floor to release his stress. After a moment of silence, Kurogane stared at him again and whispered,

"Meet me outside near the canal that branches off near Renato's gelato shop. Be there, or maybe I'll do another round of stealing near your house."

It was clear that Fai winced, since he visibly twitched right before his gleaming eyes. Kurogane chuckled darkly before turning and dashing away to his locker, trying to avoid the student he beat up and the teacher that slapped his before.

"Then he really is…"

Fai lost his cool exterior and collapsed onto the floor, shaking momentarily.

I let a filthy creature like him so close…

…

Slinging the leather bag over his shoulder by the strap, Kurogane slammed his navy green locker shut with a groan. His plan to beat the life out of the blond and ask him to spill any information he had failed and he didn't like that. Ignoring the calls from his friends down the hallway, Kurogane made way for the stairs that led to the first floor, literally kicking the doors open with his foot. Realizing that he truly was angry, his friends stopped calling him and retreated, making their way home by themselves.

As he walked down the stairs, Kurogane thought about the situation he was in now. He had two choices; one, like he thought before: beat him up and tell him to give up information, or two, slowly lure him into giving information as if he didn't really desperately need to know if he still remembered about previous nights ago.

Sadly, Kurogane wasn't the type who succeeded in acting.

Oh boy, he thought with a groan. This won't be easy.

…

Fai, being the innocent and trustworthy person he was, decided to keep the forced promise – and threat, he thought – he made with Kurogane earlier in the day. He began whistling and mindlessly kicked at the pebbles scattered on the floor. Just as he swung his leg, a rather humorous yet painful memory came back to him.

That time when he was following 'it' – he was a hundred percent sure that it was that Kurogane guy now – he had been knocked unconscious when someone threw a stone at him. He swore that he heard a chuckle from the person who threw it, and it wasn't really a feminine giggle.

"Yo."

Fai whipped his head around in surprise, and the usual grin kicked into place as he saw Kurogane leaning against the brick wall of the gelato shop, backpack hanging loosely off his shoulder.

He looks like a total bully like that, Fai joked inwardly and at that he felt his smile widen.

"So I came as you promised. What did you want to ask me?"

He kept such a straight look on his face that Kurogane swore he was wearing some type of mask. The raven frowned for a brief second and stood up straight, pushing down his shirt that rose above his stomach when he leaned against the wall. He walked up to the blond and gave him a look that told Fai that he didn't trust him at all, and that if something went wrong, he'd have to hurt him.

"So," Kurogane muttered in a deep voice, still glancing up and down his lanky body, "how exactly do you know-?"

"About the fact that you go around with two children stealing objects from people's houses? Oh, you remember that I was the one who saw you that time, right?" Fai asked, straightforward, eyebrows rising slightly. Kurogane faltered again, grunting as he nailed the subject right down.

"Err, yeah."

Damn, he thought, cursing, I shouldn't be stammering! He should be!

"It's almost like me asking you why you do thievery," Fai sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why do you steal anyway?"

"Personal business," the raven snapped almost by habit, glaring at him as if he'd been offended. "None of your concern, whatever your name is." The blond kept his unwavering smile on and replied,

"My name's Fai."

Kurogane frowned again, this time it turned deeper into a scowl as seconds passed. "Why are you telling me your name when I didn't even ask you for it?" he questioned. Fai blinked at him a couple of times before he laughed.

"Well I think it's not fair that I know your name, Kurogane, but you don't know mine!" He chuckled and his face seemed to radiate happiness, but Kurogane was completely unfazed by his laughter. The only thing that worried him was one thing.

How did he know his name again?

Kurogane thought back and smacked his forehead.

Oh, I remember now, he thought in a menacing tone. Don't tell me Acosta blabbed my name out in the locker room the other day! Kurogane smacked his forehead again, over and over, before he felt Fai's worried look on his face.

"Hey, you're gonna lose brain cells if you continue doing that," he said, reaching out to grab his fist away from his forehead. Kurogane took a step back, glaring down at him once again.

"So answer my question. How exactly do you know?" The blond sighed and let his shoulder droop.

"Well, I caught you and two other kids up on the roof one day," he noted, tapping his chin with his index finger, "and well, I think I saw one of 'it' going around near my house in the dark. It was when Ashura was over, and when we were doing a duet…"

Memories washed over him so hard and Kurogane fell back as if he really was consumed by water. That voice, he thought, was that guy's? The word 'Impossible' struck him; such an elegant voice couldn't have come from this lanky, pathetic guy!

"You're not gonna tell anyone, right?" was all Kurogane could say.

Fai smiled at him in a crooked and dark way, tilting his head to the side. He took a deep breath and thought for the moment, closing his eyes. The blond finally let his breath out, and Kurogane almost jumped as his wide eyes suddenly snapped open.

"I won't."

The raven let out a breath that he didn't know he kept in and slumped back against the wall, running his hands through his hair once more. "Good. I would've had to knock you out senseless if you were."

Fai laughed at that and muttered something along the lines of 'I thought so.'

"So," he began, twirling one strand of hair around his finger in boredom, "why don't we talk this out thoroughly over some gelato, hmm?" Before Kurogane could open his mouth and reject, Fai was already opening to door to the small ice cream parlor, laughing and beckoning him over.

Once again, he had two choices.

One, go along with him and see if they can settle the scores evenly.

Or two, act normally and just run the hell out of here.

Almost by instinct – Kurogane couldn't feel his body at that brief moment – he made his way for the parlor, swinging the door open. Just as he stepped into the parlor and saw Fai bending down near the counter where different flavors of gelato were, he immediately regretted coming inside.

I get a bad feeling that he's gonna make me pay for the gelato…

…

Fierce amber eyes concentrated on the two figures talking behind the glass window, and they twitched slightly as one of them began laughing, throwing his head back. His frame began to tremble slightly, and his hands formed fists tightly. A girl beside him was sighing, trying to kick the amber eyed boy away from the window.

"It's his own personal interest, his own love life. Screw off, Syaoran, he doesn't want anyone looking. Syaoran!"

Sakura fumed as she realized that Syaoran was too busy gaping at Kurogane and Fai, throwing a mini fit, just loud enough so no one inside the building could hear.

"He-He's been dating someone behind our backs?" the boy squeaked, stomping his foot on the floor. "And he never told us when he came back!"

The girl sighed and rubbed her emerald eyes, trying not to lash out on him in the middle of the sidewalk. "Look, let's get going. Yukito-san just wanted us to get the groceries, right? Now let's hurry up!" She reached down and grabbed Syaoran by the collar of his school uniform, dragging him away into the dark alley. The amber eyed boy choked and began squirming his way from her death grip.

"S-Sakura! Henna-choko! Let me go!"

…

Touya was grumpily flipping eggs for an apparently sick Yukito, adding salt every few seconds as he cast a glance over his shoulder to his pale friend. Pain graced his figures as he coughed and hacked loudly, thumping his chest to stop the pain. Yukito let out a sigh and his head lolled back.

"Are they almost done, Touya?" he asked in a hoarse voice, his dull eyes staring a hole through the taller boy's back. Touya shifted his weight to his right foot and muttered, "Almost."

Yukito sighed once more, placing his hand on his lap, drumming his fingers against his thigh. Usually it was Touya sick and him making lunch, but awkwardly enough, it was the other way around.

And today I was supposed to ask Kurogane to round a few objects down near town…

…

"What?" Kurogane roared and pushed away the chair he was sitting on to stand up in shock.

Fai simply smiled creepily at him again, tapping the tip of his spoon on his lip. "If we become friends, I won't rat out on you!"

He stood there flabbergasted and couldn't help but let short gasps of air escape his lips. This boy, this idiotic, laid back teenager, was threatening him to rat on him if they didn't become friends?

The part I hate, Kurogane thought with a twitch, is the 'becoming friends' part.

"No?" Fai asked, cocking his head to the side in a childish manner. "Well then," he drawled once more in that annoying tone, drawing out his cell phone from his back pocket, "I might as well dial up the police and tell them that I saw some thieves running around-."

Kurogane had to lung for the phone and throw it out the nearest open window to shut him up. He was panting heavily as his bloodshot eyes said everything; if Fai was to do something like that, he'd kill him first. The blond laughed nervously and waved him off, telling him that he was only kidding.

"Not the friend part though, Kuro-nya," Fai joked, folding his hands neatly on the table top. "So?"

Now this friendship thing didn't bother him much. It was just that nickname. 'Kuro-nya', he called him?

That was pushing it a bit too far.

In anger he stood up and marched out of the parlor, shouting out random outbursts to draw attention from the customers that sat eating their gelato. Whispers flooded to room as they glanced at Kurogane's back and Fai's cheery smile.

"Lovers?"

"They must've fought."

"If they did, I bet the blond would be crying right now…"

"Oh so sad!"

Fai craned his neck to face them, showing them his flashy smile. "Oh no, we're not lovers," he said loud enough so Kurogane could hear what he was saying from outside.

"We're just close friends, that's all."

Kurogane heard what he said and tried attacking him behind the glass mirror, banging his fists against the glass in anger, spewing curses at the giggling blond.

"Isn't that right, Kuro-chuu?" Fai teased as he winked at the raven. He fell back in shock and horror.

"My God," Kurogane muttered as he lied down on the cement sidewalk, slightly twitching, "how does Yasha-senpai keep up with this idiot and that Ashura guy?"

…

Meanwhile as the two seniors were locked up in their bedroom, kissing away, Yasha pulled back for a brief second as Ashura pulled back for air. Both had messy hair and hazy amber eyes, but as the younger one leaned forward to kiss him again, Yasha sneezed.

Ashura jumped back on the bed, clinging to the sheets with his hands.

"Jeez, don't just suddenly sneeze like that, Yasha-kun!"

The senior sniffled and rubbed his nose, grunting.

"It's not my fault; someone was just probably talking about me behind my back."

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My, my, what a silly ending. I just had to put that little Yasha x Ashura part, not just "In the middle of his bedroom, where Yasha was studying his brains out, he sneezed." No, nothing like that. Add some shounen-ai in there, I had to. –Laughs- Well anyway, I finally came up with a chapitre. I'm so proud of myself!

Now what do I have to go over here? Ah yes!

First thing's first: gelato is pretty much ice cream in Italian, though it tastes different, according to my friends. I have yet to go to Italy to try authentic gelato… -Cries- Funny. We can't really afford to go to Italy, my family.

Second: "Basta, basta! Basta, ragazzi! Siedete!" That pretty much meant "Enough, enough! Enough, children (or that could be plural for boys)! Sit down!" Mhmm. We hear that constantly during homeroom. –Groans- I'm serious, one day I'll knock the living crap out of those kids…

Three: Uhh… What was it again? Oh yeah. 'Henna-choko' was a little… word I learned from Kyou Kara Maou. It means 'Wimp' really, and well… I thought Syaoran would be the teasing kind, y'know? Of course, the Syaoran in Card Captor Sakura. No, not the stoic, emotionless Syaoran in Tsubasa.

Ah, I guess that's it. Not too disappointed, really, since I don't think it was that bad. Next chapitre will come up whenever I have chapitre three for Perfection or Partners for Life down. Mhmm. Drop a review; thanks!

-Muffinizer, pyun!